Bulgaria Plans to Modernize Its T-72 Tanks - Minister

Blagoevgrad, Southwestern Bulgaria, November 29 (BTA) - Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov told a news briefing here on Thursday that at its next meeting the Cabinet will decree the start of a modernization of the country's fleet of T-72 tanks.

According to Military Balance 2018 (an analytical report published by London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies), Bulgaria operates 90 Soviet-made T-72 main battle tanks (in particular, their T-72M variant).

The Government will allocate an extra 13 million leva for the Land Forces. 23 million leva will be invested in building stock for servicepersons training and living quarters. Last year 28 million leva were allocated for the military schools, to improve cadets' training conditions, Karakachanov said.

"For the first time in quite a while, this Government has already raised the servicepersons' pay on two occasions," the Defence Minister said. He also recalled the additional allocations approved by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday for repairs of the Air Force Su-25 and MiG-29s.

Karakachanov expects incoming and outgoing personnel to level off by the end of this year and even a slight excess of new enlistees, which should set a trend. RY/LG